Tagged: perseverance

Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread everywhere. Song of Songs 4:16   But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 I stood looking out over the pitiful inlet, feeling deeply sorry for myself. My husband and small son were mercifully asleep, and it was the first quiet moment I’d had all day. The past twenty-four hours… Read More

Paul said to the Roman officer and his soldiers, “Unless you all stay together onboard the ship, you have no chance of surviving.” Acts 27:31 (TPT) When the winds rise and the ship’s timbers groan, the natural human inclination is to panic. Our innate fight or flight instinct trips and the little amygdala deep in our brain urges, Protect yourself!!! The soldiers on board Paul’s battered ship to Rome were no different. As they sneakily untied the lifeboats and tried to slip away Paul warned them, “Unless you all stay together onboard the ship, you have no chance of surviving.” He had shared with them that morning the dream God sent in the night. While he slept, the angel of God came to him and… Read More

But during the night, the Lord sent an angel who appeared before them. He supernaturally opened their prison doors and brought the apostles outside. “Go,” the angel told them. “Stand in the temple courts and preach the words that bring life! So early that morning they entered the temple courts and taught the people.  Acts 5:19-20 Go. Stand. Preach the words that bring life. So many words in the world. Words that bring death, and words that bring life. (See Proverbs 18:21). What power we have, we followers of the Word (see John 1). We can preach words that bring life. Have you ever seen anything brought to life? Have you witnessed the birth of a child? The delight of a blossom appearing overnight from snow-bound… Read More

Afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and I will lay your foundations with sapphires. Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones.  Isaiah 54:11-12 There is a fat-bellied bird in Britain who has two names. Ornithologists call him a Mistle Thrush, but in the countryside where he is often seen, he is known as the Storm Thrush because of his tendency to sing in the midst of strong winds. A story is told about a poet who was awakened in the night, not by the fierce storm that ravaged outside, for indeed it was enough to wake the deepest sleeper, but by a rich and… Read More

For my little sister. Thank you. By faith Moses refused…choosing rather to suffer. Hebrews 11:24, 25 I am tucked away in a beautiful place as I write today. Gracious homes with wrap-around porches, along streets lined with palm trees, face the inlet where seagrass blows in the gentle spring breeze. The sun sets right in front of my sister’s beautiful house. The rhythms of family life thrum around me each day as children go to school and return, parents walk fussy babies along gravel paths by the water, and toddlers squeal at the sight of ducks bathing in the storm drain. My family and I are in the space in between. The place between refusing the comforts of our old life and embracing the joy… Read More

Metamorphosis: (Greek: metamorphoó) a complete change of character, appearance, substance, or form. To transform. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform (metamorphoó) you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 As I wrangled with my own bad attitude toward personal transformation this week, a butterfly landed in my path. The little creature, painted with colors of sunset against powder black, seemed to have a message for me. Soundlessly she delivered her elegant exhortation.  Let God transform you. She told me a silent story of metamorphosis, a season of dissolving darkness that made her the beauty she now… Read More

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 It came in strange gift wrap, not at all what I expected. But the gift was right there inside. I turned it over in my hands, joyously held it to my heart, and wondered at the mad methods of my Lover. The gift was exactly what I asked for, really. The wishing began slow like a tingling thrill that rises up quiet from the deep spaces of our souls, growing in intensity as it climbs, until it bursts out all over us, covering us in hope. I wanted a life change. I asked Him to rearrange me on the inside, to remove me from me and fill me… Read More

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured…so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:2-3). I discovered an early Christmas gift this week, tucked away in the pages of Hebrews. Jesus wrapped it Himself for each of us in His own humanity when He was born on Christmas Day. And this is a gift we need now more than ever. Jesus learned Endurance from the moment He took his first frosty breath as a newborn, gulping in the frigid night air of a stable in Bethlehem.… Read More

[caption id="attachment_3700" align="aligncenter" width="596"] For my mother-in-love, a Master Gardener who taught me the fruitful practice of hard pruning.[/caption] I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful (John 15:1-2). Well, it seems we are all going to have a holly, jolly, pruning Christmas. The Oxford Languages Dictionary defines pruning in various degrees: trim (a tree, shrub, or bush) by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, especially to increase fruitfulness and growth. cut away (a branch or stem). reduce the extent of (something) by removing superfluous or unwanted parts. December is a bit… Read More

Somehow just doesn't sit right with me. Today we find ourselves on the tippy-top of the mountain, hump-day, round-the-corner day, Wednesday. (By the time you read this, we will likely be heading down the hill to Thursday.) I do not usually post on Wednesdays, but in times like these, I think we could all do with a little mid-week encouragement. I have been stuck on an old phrase lately, and you might get stuck on it too. We will make it through this season, not somehow, but triumphantly. It is said that the wonderful expression "not somehow, but triumphantly" gained popularity among Christian missionaries in the prisoner-of-war camps of Japan during World War II. Day after day, they rose, fixed their eyes on Jesus, and gathered… Read More